𝐁𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐒

file 013 | crimes of the past

They stopped off at Kadoma Driver's License Testing Grounds and met with someone who works there.

"So all four have clean driving records," Sakata said as he looked over the file in his hands.

"Yes."

"I thought there might be a car connection," Heiji sighed, leaning back on the couch. "Guess I was wrong again."

"They also all got their licenses different years at different places," Sakata added.

"Listen to this," Suzume said, getting their attention. "It says Okazaki learned to drive in Hyogo and not Osaka."

Heiji looked over the paper in her hands. "So it does. Why that far away?"

The worker looks at the paper and hums. "Oh, that place is famous for its cheap license school," he told them.

"License school?!" Suzume exclaimed. "Does that mean—?!"

"That's her friends!" Heiji realized. "Do you have the number for that place, Mister?"

"Yes."

~ — — — ~

"Eh? Okazaki Sumie and Nishiguchi Tayo shared a room at the school?!" Sakata exclaimed into the phone. "Seriously?!"

"Alright! We're starting to connect the four victims now!" Heiji grinned.

"It's a little strange, though," Suzume said. "Okazaki-san got her license that same year, but Nishiguchi got hers three years later."

"Maybe she sucked at driving and didn't graduate that year?" Heiji suggested.

Suzume frowned.

"That's crazy!" Sakata's shout made them look at him. "You're really sure about that?!"

"Huh? What is it?"

"The others were at that school twenty years ago, too!" Sakata told them. "The first victim, Nagao Hidetoshi-san, the third victim Noyasu Kazuto-san, and Assemblyman Goshi-san! They were all at the same place!"

"What?!" Heiji gasped.

"And that's not all. There was also a man whose name is all too familiar now."

"Familiar?! Who?!"

"Numabuchi. Numabuchi Kiichiro."

Suzume's eyes widened. "Wait, you don't mean—! The robber and murderer..."

"...who's on the run?!" Heiji finished, just as shocked as her.

~ — — — ~

Sakata had the class photo printed out to show them. "Here it is! The school photo!"

Heiji pulled it from the tray and looked at it. "No question about it! It's Numabuchi! The faces and names of the other five match, too!"

"But this is strange," Suzume murmured. August 23, 1978 graduates. "See? It says they all graduated then, but only Okazaki-san went on and got her license."

"Something happened at this school twenty years ago," Heiji said. "Something..."

"I see. Thanks." Sakata hung up his phone. "None of the current staff know anything that happened twenty years ago."

"I figured as much," Heiji said.

~ — — — ~

They went to the Prefectural Nakanoshima Library to look it up.

"But there had to have been some sort of accident involving that training ground twenty years ago," Heiji murmured, tapping away at the keyboard.

"Wait, wait!" Suzume said, pointing at the screen at a news article. "Right there!"